


The Favor

by corvidkohai



Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: F/M, M/M, Manipulation, Pining, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-23
Updated: 2019-09-26
Packaged: 2020-11-02 12:29:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20746805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/corvidkohai/pseuds/corvidkohai
Summary: Cloud loves Zack, who knows but does not reciprocate. Sephiroth makes a plan to exploit the moment when Cloud gives up on Zack to win him over.Sephiroth is a manipulative garbage man in this





	1. Chapter 1

He never  _ meant _ to do it. 

He knew it was a bad idea. It had always been a bad idea. He’d been aware of that from the get-go, and that was why he tried to avoid it for so long. But no matter what he tried, he couldn’t stop himself from loving Zack Fair. 

He was like the sun, and Cloud was a flower turning to catch the beams. He was the brightest star in the dark sky that was Shinra. He was the air Cloud needed after drowning in loneliness for so long, long enough that his heart ached like starved lungs. 

It had started with the little things. Zack started paying attention to him after one fateful mission. He’d noticed the way the other troopers ignored Cloud, and he noticed that Cloud was the only one pulling his weight. So he decided to befriend him, loathe to leave a good person struggling on their own—and a careful eye at Shinra Tower showed that yes, Cloud was indeed alone. He went about adopting Cloud, but he did it slowly, so as to not overwhelm him. Brief PHS messages turned into requesting Cloud for missions turned into lunch in the cafeteria turned into movie night. Zack, despite what others would tell you, knew how to be patient when it mattered. And it was clear to him that, if he rushed, Cloud would bolt like a spooked deer. 

Cloud told himself it was because someone was finally looking at him with a kind eye. That the fluttering in his stomach and the racing of his heart were misconstrued and misplaced and misunderstood. His heart was running away from his head, because logically, he knew that he and Zack were just friends. It had taken him a long enough time to even truly believe that much, but he trusted that truth, now. No, his heart was overreacting to his first taste of kindness. It was puppy love. He tried to avoid it as long as he could, but his heart wouldn’t listen, so instead, he’d wait it out. Puppy love passed, and that was obviously what this was. 

It would pass. 

Except, as was starting to become glaringly obvious, it wasn’t passing. 

Cloud waited and waited and waited. He waited through arms slung around his shoulders, bone-crushing hugs, playful hair-ruffling, even the New Year’s Kiss, where Zack had panicked over having no one to kiss at the big moment and grabbed Cloud. Cloud, who hadn’t even moved in his shock at suddenly find his dream come true, only to have Zack turn away again and get wrapped back up in the party. His heart had pounded in his ears all night and his face burned and he was breathless and he wasn’t even subtle about it. Zack had noticed as the night wound down, the tide of the party drawing away and leaving Zack back with Cloud like a shell on the beach. He’d thought Cloud was upset and apologized profusely, saying that he should have asked first, he hadn’t been thinking, he got swept up in the moment, he was so sorry, it would never happen again, nothing but a kiss between friends, but he was sorry for it anyway. 

And that had been where Cloud crashed back to Gaia, the sweetness of the kiss turning to ash in his mouth. 

Friends. 

That’s right, that’s what they were, and if for one shining, glorious night he’d had hope for something else, it had been nothing but a rare burst of optimism running away with him. 

So he continued waiting for the crush to pass. He thought that rough landing after New Year’s would help, but no, his heart was as rebellious as always. 

He tried to talk himself around in a thousand ways. Zack was probably straight, to begin with. Zack had an endless line of options, because he was handsome and charming and Cloud, more than once, lost track of this line of thought, instead daydreaming about the qualities of Zack he liked best. Zack flirted incessantly, but never with Cloud. Zack went on frequent dates, and though he took Cloud out often, it had always been clear that those were not dates. 

Even more than all the things Zack was, it was the things Cloud was not that made them incompatible. He was a lowly trooper who had failed his SOLDIER exam. He was short, scrawny, had weird hair. He had a temper at times, was a push-over at others, and had a bad tendency for sarcasm in the in between. He was standoffish and quiet, introverted and shy, and it all came down to one important factor. 

He just wasn’t good enough for Zack. 

There were a thousand reasons for it, and he could list them frontwards and backwards. He could write a small dissertation on the reasons why he wasn’t worth Zack’s time at all, much less his love. Zack simply had too many virtues, and Cloud too many flaws. He wasn’t worthy, and that was the hard truth of the matter. 

Things looked a little different from Zack’s perspective. He knew full well how Cloud felt about him. The New Year’s Kiss hadn’t been a mistake, it had been a test. He’d had his suspicions for a while, but Cloud’s reaction to the kiss made it clear how he felt. Zack  _ had _ felt guilty for playing his friend that way, for getting his hopes up just to dash them, but he had to be sure. He was careful, but he adjusted his behavior after. A bit less touching, or touches that were rough and playful enough that they couldn’t be misconstrued as tender. A little more care in his word choice, and the subjects he brought up. He knew how Cloud felt, and thought more than once that maybe distance would have been a kindness, but he couldn’t talk himself into it. Not when Cloud was still so alone. Zack seemed to be his only friend, and he wouldn’t abandon Cloud, even if it meant dragging out the heartbreak. 

He never even considered that Cloud would think it was a question of worth. If he had, he would have sucked it up and addressed things directly. But he assumed that Cloud knew he was only interested in women, for all the casual flirts he aimed at men. He thought that Cloud had to know it wasn’t a personal failing so much as something that just wasn’t in the cards. So instead of setting Cloud straight, as he would have if he knew Cloud’s view on the matter, he let it lie. He thought that bringing it up would be salt in the wound. No point in confirming what Cloud clearly already knew, judging by the way he never made a move on Zack. Since Cloud knew it was a simple impossibility, there was no sense in rubbing his nose in what he couldn’t have. It would have been both useless and cruel. 

So, Zack came up with a back-up plan. He hoped Cloud would get over him on his own, but really, he needed more friends anyway. Maybe if he had someone else to focus on, someone else who treated him kindly, he’d focus a little less on Zack. The obvious next step was to introduce him to Sephiroth, who also needed more friends, anyway. 

The funny part was, neither of them wanted to do it. 

He expected it from Sephiroth. Objectively, Cloud didn’t seem like he had much to offer. He was a trooper, shy in a way to could be inconvenient, occasionally sensitive to harsh remarks. Sephiroth could, with little effort, chew him up and spit him out and not even realize he’d done it. He knew nothing more about Cloud than he was an average trooper and a friend of Zack’s. His social needs were met with Zack as it was, and he had no need of facing the senseless hero worship of the troopers. He declined. 

What Zack didn’t expect was to also be shot down by Cloud. He knew Cloud looked up to the General something fierce as a kid, and he couldn’t help but ask. 

“Is that why you don’t want to meet him? He still your idol?” Zack asked, pretending to not be paying much attention so Cloud wouldn’t take the conversation too seriously. He was leaning back in his office chair, feet on his desk, a pencil balanced precariously on his nose, jostling every time he spoke. 

“No, all your dumb stories kinda killed that for me,” Cloud admitted, watching the dance of the pencil and being distracted by it, exactly as Zack intended. “Can’t idolize a man too much after the mental image of him covered in swamp mud and Zolom guts.”

Zack chuckled, and the pencil fell; he caught it deftly. 

“It was head to toe, dude, I swear,” Zack grinned, and joined Cloud in the laugh he gave. But when they quieted, Zack began balancing the pencil on its point on his fingertip as he said, “So why won’t you meet him, then?”

“I don’t know, I just—I’m just a trooper, y’know? I’m sure he’s got better stuff to do.”

It took all of Zack’s self control not to give him a pointed look for that line of thinking. He’d always hated the way Cloud talked down about himself, as if he was worthless. He’d gathered that it was something drilled into his head in Nibelheim. 

(His reaction if he knew Cloud thought he wasn’t good enough for Zack would have cost Shinra millions.)

Instead of reacting, Zack let the pencil tilt a little so he could swerve to straighten it. 

“I promise he doesn’t. I swear he makes up more paperwork as an excuse to stay locked in his office just so he doesn’t have to deal with people.”

“Then why would he want to deal with me?”

“Because you’re not people, Spike. You’re not some crazy adoring fan with stars in your eyes; you said it yourself, you don’t idolize him anymore.”

Cloud pursed his lips; he hadn’t thought that’d come back to bite him. 

“Still. He doesn’t socialize with troopers. Everyone knows that.”

“He doesn’t socialize with anyone that doesn’t twist his arm, and I promise I’ll do the twisting for you.”

“I don’t want to push myself on him.”

“It’ll be good for him. He needs to get out more, and it’d help if he was around someone outside the program for once. Different perspectives and all that.”

Zack was very careful, almost delicate with his phrasing. Everything was pitched as a favor to Sephiroth. He didn’t bring up how he thought Cloud would also benefit; he knew he’d be shut down immediately. Cloud would never “force himself on someone” for his own sake, no matter how much he could get from it. He’d sell him on it better if Cloud thought he’d get nothing from it. 

He chanced peeking over at Cloud to see him considering it. He didn’t press, didn’t rush him, just continued his game with his pencil. 

“I don’t know, Zack…”

“I’d owe you one, if you did it.”

Zack knew that, if Cloud was anyone else, this would be a mistake. That Cloud would call it in for a date or a kiss and those were things he couldn’t give—he wouldn’t lead Cloud on, no matter what happened. But Cloud would never dare to reach out to Zack when he knew the advances were unwanted, not even just to ask, just for confirmation. 

The idea didn’t even cross Cloud’s mind. He was dreaming of borrowing Zack’s gaming console and take out he could make Zack pay for. 

“Fine. Just once, okay? And you owe me.”

That was one stubborn party down. One more to go. 

He wheedled Sephiroth in every way he knew how. He asked incessantly to annoy him into yielding. He blew up his PHS about it. He offered to pick up extra missions in exchange. He bribed him with food he liked. At this point, he suspected Sephiroth was holding out just to see how much he could wring from Zack. He wasn’t wrong—not entirely. He was holding out for the Zack’s last ditch effort, the offer he only extended when he was desperate. 

“Come  _ on _ , I’ll even catch up on my paperwork if you see him.”

Bingo. 

At this point, Sephiroth was intrigued, and had been for a while. He was only saying no to get Zack to do his paperwork, really. He wanted to know who this trooper was that caught his eye, and why it was so important to Zack that they at least meet. Zack’s attention was hummingbird-like in its fleeting nature, and for his attention to be grounded so long on one person said something. It said more that he’d face six months worth of backlogged paperwork to arrange a single meeting. 

He was curious, and it didn’t take long for him to figure out just why Zack was so desperate. 

Sephiroth was not someone frequently accused of being adept at reading people. He always missed the signs, the little cues, the small gestures. He was accustomed to statements being made verbally and with clear wording, not left in the space between words. But, if there was one thing he could recognize, it was someone “in love.” He’d seen it so many times in his godsforsaken fans that he could recognize it in a heartbeat. It was usually his clue to find somewhere else to be. 

The reason he didn’t go running was the curious fact that that particular look wasn’t aimed at him this time. 

Cloud looked at him like he was just a person—a commanding officer, given, but a person. He looked at Zack like the man had hung the stars. It wasn’t hard to deduce that Zack was trying to divide Cloud’s attention to try and kill the crush. Distance could do that, and with another person to fill the gap, Cloud might not even notice what was happening until it was over and done. 

Sephiroth would normally object to being used in this way. He had been moved around like a chess piece all his life, and had little tolerance for such games. But he did stand to gain from the arrangement, and that soothed his temper. 

He found that he  _ did _ like the little trooper. He liked being the one to reach out a hand, for once, to someone hesitant to receive it. He liked that, when Cloud got comfortable, he had a sharp tongue and wasn’t afraid to wield it against Sephiroth after some time. He especially liked looking at him. He liked the bow of his mouth, the dusting of freckles across his cheeks and nose, the brilliant blue of his eyes and the thick, long lashes that framed them. He was usually surrounded by SOLDIERs who, for the most part, tended to have a look to them. Pretty wasn’t a part of it, but apparently Sephiroth  _ liked _ pretty. 

Sephiroth has never claimed to be a moral man. He got the job done in the most efficient way possible, no matter the task. He was an unrepentant opportunist. If there was an end to be met, and the means was all but handed to him, he would certainly not turn it away.

Was what he was considering manipulative? Yes. Did it involve taking advantage of trust and weakness? Yes. Was that going to stop him? Certainly not. 

Sooner or later, Cloud’s crush would fade. Sephiroth, who had been there to fill the gap as Zack distanced himself, would be able to step in. He understood that, when romantic feelings passed, there was a period of either relief and liberation or desperation. Either suited him. As long as he was the one Cloud turned to when the time came, he didn't mind the why. He didn’t care if Cloud turned to him in joy of no longer being weighed down by unreturned feelings, or if he came to him lost and broken. He wasn’t much accustomed to tears, but it would be simple to wipe them away until they passed. And they would pass, sooner or later. Which would leave Cloud with him, exactly as Sephiroth wanted. 

Sephiroth had no experience with romance. He couldn’t be sure if the fire that burned in his chest was normal, and he didn’t want to ask Zack. He might guess at Sephiroth’s plans, and he was certain to disapprove. He didn’t think love usually came with a consuming need to possess, but his certainly did. He was outright ravaged by jealousy every time Cloud looked at Zack with his heart in his eyes. But he could be patient. He could wait. Better to take the time to do this right. 

What none of them had expected was for Zack to find someone else before Cloud moved on. 

Zack hadn’t even been looking, but when he all but fell into Aeris’s lap, he couldn’t turn away. He knew, in the moment he first saw her, what Cloud must have felt every time he looked at him. He knew what it felt like to look at someone with starry eyes now, and he didn’t understand how Cloud could feel full to bursting this way and never once even  _ try. _

But the day he met Aeris, he’d made his decision, and it had been like a bucket of ice water down his back when it had crossed his mind. He’d been so high on the delight of meeting the girl of his dreams, that it wasn’t until he was bouncing in his skin, bursting to tell someone, that he remembered who he would have wanted to tell, and why that was a complicated idea. He yearned to share his joy, to blabber on about every brilliant aspect of Aeris, but Cloud was his best friend, was who instinct had him turning toward. He knew, he  _ knew _ , that Cloud would put on a brave face for him. That he’d let him carry on about how much he loved her. He’d even smile and laugh in all the right places. But he couldn’t be that selfish. Cloud had to know, but that wasn’t how he should find out. He  _ did _ ‍, however, have to find out from him. It’d kill Cloud to hear it second hand, and Zack knew his mouth would run away from him. 

He got on his PHS and asked Cloud to meet him at his apartment. 

He paced the whole time as he waited for Cloud to finish guard duty and meet him. He was restless. He kept swinging between absolute joy and total dread. He didn’t think finding what he was sure was The One would be so bittersweet, but he also didn’t think Cloud’s crush would persist so long after he became friends with Sephiroth. 

Eventually Cloud knocked on his door, and Zack yanked it open a half second later. Cloud looked so bone-tired that Zack had half a mind to wait, at least until tomorrow. 

But Cloud narrowed his eyes at him. 

“Something  _ is  _ wrong. You sounded wrong on the call, but you definitely look like you’re about to find a way to jump out of your skin.”

Zack sighed. No chance for it, then. Cloud could be tenacious as hell when he set his mind to it; there was no way he’d let this go. 

Zack stepped aside to let him in. 

Cloud looked at him warily but went in and sat on the couch, waiting for Zack to follow suit. He was surprised when the silence stretched and stretched like taffy between them. 

“Well now I know it’s bad; you usually can’t keep anything behind your teeth,” Cloud said, looking his friend over. “Do us both a favor and just say it.”

Zack blew out a slow breath and rubbed at the back of his neck. Then he carefully set his hands in his lap and looked up at Cloud. The least he could do was give him the respect of eye contact for this. 

“Before I say anything, I want you to know I’m not mad. I was never mad. If today never happened, I’d keep on being not-mad until things went a different way. You’re my best friend, and that won’t change unless you tell me to go to hell. Even then I’d hound you for a while; I won’t give up on you without a fight. You know that?”

Cloud was looking at him like he was asking him to stick his hand in a furnace with just his word that it’d be okay. 

“Out with it, Fair.”

“I think I fell in love today.”

It was like all the air was sucked out of the room. Everything went still and dead and no one breathed for a long moment, until Cloud let out a puff of breath that sounded vaguely reminiscent of a laugh. Zack decided it was definitely supposed to be a laugh by the clear one that followed, long and loud. Zack was baffled for a long moment until he realized that what Cloud was laughing at was himself. 

There it was, the proof he’d always been looking for. He really wasn’t good enough for Zack—no, but someone else was. Some faceless stranger ripped all he’d ever wanted from his hands and he couldn’t even act surprised. He’d always known he wasn’t good enough. This was just the writing on the wall that spelled the truth out for everyone else. 

Eventually the laughter calmed to a fierce grin, but when Cloud looked back at him, his eyes were like shattered glass. 

“Sorry, I’m sorry, I’m not laughing at you, I promise. That’s great, Zack! Give me the details, I want to hear all about it.”

He knew it. He  _ knew _ Cloud was just going to bottle it all up, sweep it under the rug and pretend it was all alright. Of course he was going to play pretend for his friend, make believe that everything was fine. 

The look Zack gave him was heartbroken. 

“Gaia, kid, don’t you ever get tired?”

“Don’t call me ‘kid,’” Cloud said, all muscle memory, but he was looking Zack over now, trying to fit pieces together. This wasn’t how a man recently in love acted—he would know. “And of course I get tired, I’m exhausted right now. Doesn’t mean I don’t want to hear about it.”

“No, see, that’s what I  _ mean _ . How is that not exhausting? It would run me ragged, putting on a mask that long.”

Cloud blinked. There were puzzle pieces in front of him, and he had them sorted by color now, but he still wasn’t sure how they fit together. He was getting there, though. 

“What are you talking about, Zack?”

“How can you smile for me, when I just broke your heart?”

The pieces slid together like magnets, and what a picture they made. 

Cloud felt the words like a suckerpunch, the air flying right out of him. 

His voice was still choked and small when he said, “You know.”

The look Zack gave him was tired and sad. 

“I’ve known for a while.”

Cloud raised a shaking hand to rub his brow, half the gesture just an excuse to hide his eyes, which were pinched shut now in what might have been sorrow, might have been shame. 

“Why didn’t you ever say anything?”

Zack felt the words pulled from his throat like shards of glass. This conversation was even harder than he expected, and he hadn’t thought it’d be easy. 

“Why would I, when it never would have worked?”

Cloud’s hand dropped and he looked at Zack in shock. He knew the truth, knew that he wasn’t enough, but he’d  _ never _ guessed that Zack would just say it. Cloud spluttered our little bubbles of laughter. All he could do was laugh. He’d certainly made a fool of himself, after all. 

Zack watched, his eyes narrowing. He didn’t know why Cloud was looking like he slapped him. It was a hard truth, but he’d known it already. He looked like he was taking in personal, almost, but that couldn’t be right, because someone’s sexuality was no one’s fault. 

His mind came grinding to a halt. 

He was taking it personally because he thought they were incompatible for some other reason. 

And, knowing Cloud, it was obvious what he thought that reason was. 

Zack scooted forward in his chair, urgent now as he said, “Because I’m  _ straight _ , Cloud, that’s all. It’s not some failing on your part. You didn’t do anything wrong, you weren’t too much or not enough. It’s just—something that’s out of both our hands.”

The smile Cloud gave him was pitying; he could say what he wanted out of misguided need to spare Cloud’s feelings, but he knew the truth. 

Cloud stood then and made his way toward the door. 

“Seriously, tell me about them sometime. I do wanna hear. Maybe just not tonight, I  _ am  _ pretty beat.”

The way he said it was so breezy, so blasé that Zack almost believed him. 

Instead, he snatched his wrist, standing with him. 

“ _ No _ , Cloud, I can’t let you leave thinking that. I’m being honest. On my honor as SOLDIER, Cloud, I’m straight.”

Cloud looked down at where Zack was holding his wrist. 

“Let go, Zack.”

“ _ Cloud _ .”

“Zackary.”

“ _ Please _ . What do I have to swear on for you to believe me?”

“Nothing, because right now, you’d say anything to convince me. Let me go.”

“That isn’t true, I would never lie to you, Cloud. When have I ever?”

“Well there’s certainly a big lie by omission you just owned up to. Let  _ go _ .”

“That’s not the same!”

Cloud did what was his absolute last resort. He turned around and looked at Zack and, for the first time, didn’t try at all to hide how hurt he was, how many pieces his heart was in. It knocked the breath from Zack’s chest. 

“Let me go, Zack,” he whispered. 

Zack’s fingers fell away. 

Between one blink and the next, Cloud was gone. Zack found himself scrubbing tears from his own eyes as he pulled out his PHS. 

To Sephiroth, he sent in a text:  _ cloud needs you. go help him. i’ll owe you big.  _

Sephiroth thought privately, upon reading the message, that Zack would redact that last bit when he realized he’d sent Cloud into the lion’s den. 

Sephiroth called Cloud instead of worrying about it. 

“Cloud,” he said as soon as the line connected. “Can you come to my apartment?”

There was a long pause, and then a static rattle as Cloud sighed. 

“Zack asked you for a favor, huh?”

“Indeed.”

“Whatever he told you was misguided. I’d rather be alone right now.”

“It doesn’t sound like you ought to be.”

“I—“

“If you need an excuse to justify it to yourself, Zack being in my debt would be very helpful at the moment.”

Because of what he was about to do. 

He carefully didn’t mention it. 

There was that rattle again as Cloud sighed a second time and said, “Fine. I’ll be up.”

When there was a knock on the door, Sephiroth opened it promptly, only to have a solid weight collide with his chest. He looked down to see Cloud latched on to him, his face burrowed in his chest. He’d never taken such liberties before, and it said something about his state that he took them now. 

At first, he just held on. Sephiroth reached over his head to shut the door behind him. Then, he could feel the wetness on his chest, and feel as Cloud’s shoulders began to shake. That was when Sephiroth scooped him up and brought them to the couch. He settled them together, Cloud in his lap, and found he didn’t know what to do with tears. His only thought was of calming a spooked chocobo, the way careful touches and calm strokes were required. He thought it couldn’t hurt, so Sephiroth began rubbing Cloud’s back in soothing passes until the tears faded and Cloud sat back. 

He gave a watery laugh and said, “Gaia, Sephiroth, you let everyone bully you this way? You can’t let me just bust in and take over your lap like this.” He began to move away, but Sephiroth stopped him with a firm hand on his waist. 

“How are you?”

Cloud laughed again, dashing the tears from his eyes and giving an over dramatic shrug. 

“I don’t know, how bad do I look?”

“I knew it would be bad, but I was hoping not quite this bad.”

Cloud’s forced cheer fell away, his eyes roving Sephiroth’s face. He let his hand drop and sighed. 

“You knew too, huh?”

“I have seen adoration on many faces. It wasn’t difficult to recognize.”

Cloud took a deep breath, blew it out hard, hanging his head, and said, “Shit.”

“It’s not a bad thing. It says something good about you, that you love so deeply.”

Cloud looked at him for a while, considering, then scoffed and looked away. 

Sephiroth reached out and turned his face back toward his own with a gentle press of fingertips to cheek. 

“You do not know how beautiful you looked when your eyes fell on him.”

Cloud paused for a long moment, his mind turning but slowly, like there was mud in the gears. 

It felt like Sephiroth was implying something, but that something was impossible. 

“I bet I looked like a dope,” he said slowly instead of addressing it, deflecting the way he always did. 

Sephiroth shook his head minutely, his fingers ghosting over Cloud’s cheek, as if trying to smear the freckles. 

“I’ve never seen anything as beautiful as you in love. It made me ache to be looked at that way.”

Cloud’s breath caught in his throat. 

He blinked slowly, trying to comprehend what was being laid out in front of him. 

“What… what are you saying?”

“Did you think you were the only one allowed to pine for someone?”

No, but it was impossible that anyone would pine after him, much less  _ Sephiroth. _

“ _ Me _ , though?”

“Of course you. Always you. There’s been no one else.”

And it was as amazing as it was impossible. He’d grown so accustomed to yearning, to reaching out but never grasping, that he forgot what it was like for someone to reach for  _ him _ . 

He never felt more conflicted than he did in that moment. 

Because he wanted this, desperately. He was hurting, and he felt unwanted and unloveable. But here was someone, someone he cared about and trusted, saying he was the opposite of those things. It felt like balm on a burn. It made him ache for more. But was he doing what he had first done with Zack, and responding to the first sign of kindness? 

He decided that it didn’t matter if he was. He needed this, right now, and Sephiroth was offering. Had wanted to offer for a while, apparently. Zack couldn’t be what Cloud needed, but Cloud could be what Sephiroth needed, and that was almost as good. If Sephiroth had any qualms about being Cloud’s second choice, he wasn’t showing them. He just seemed glad to suddenly be an option at all. 

He made a snap decision, and even as he made it, it felt like the only real option he had. He surged forward, his hands framing Sephiroth’s face, and pressed their mouths together. Sephiroth’s breath hitched, and it was the last thing Cloud was truly cognizant of. Everything dissolved into heat and movement and sparks that might have been pleasure, might have been affection, might have been the loss that continued to burn him alive from the inside out. 

He remembered only the words, as if they were seared into his mind. 

“Bedroom, Cloud: yes or no?”

He knew he said something, but he wasn’t sure what. He guessed it might have been “yes” because they certainly ended up in a bedroom. 

But what was etched in deeper was the litany of, “I love you, Cloud, I love you, I love you terribly, you’re everything, you’re perfect, I’ll never let you go.”

He wasn’t sure what he responded to that  _ either _ , but he strongly suspected it was another affirmative. He wondered, vaguely, in the corner of his mind where his awareness was waiting while the rest of him was lost, if maybe he was making promises he couldn’t, or shouldn’t, keep. That maybe what felt enveloping right now might grow to be smothering and forever wasn’t something he could guarantee to a love like that. 

He set the matter aside, and let the last of his awareness dissipate into the heat. 

He could worry about it later.    
  



	2. Chapter 2

When Cloud woke, it was in an unfamiliar room in an absolute daze. Everything was soft and warm in a way the barracks never were and never had been. There was a gentle light streaming in from a window and a strange but familiar smell. Warmth, floral, and sword oil. Sephiroth?

At that, he finally cracked an eye open to take stock of his surroundings. He was lying on one side, completely naked in a downy white bed much wider than his own, and in front of him was Sephiroth in a mirroring pose, watching him wake slowly. 

“Good morning,” Sephiroth said, something hesitant in his tone. 

This was the breaking point, where either everything he had built with Cloud would come to a head, or come crumbling down. Either he could forgive him the sin of taking advantage of his grief, or he could not. He didn’t seem awake enough yet to make that call. 

“Good… morning?” 

Sephiroth felt something rare and soft curve over his face. Regardless of how this went, he’d have the memory of the night, and of Cloud’s sleepy bewilderment. 

“Do you remember last night at all?”

Cloud blinked slowly, wakefulness creeping up on him even slower. 

Then it came crashing on him like an avalanche. 

Everything he hadn’t wanted to remember, everything he wanted to bury swept him up and held him close and it hurt so brilliantly that it blinded. 

He didn’t even hear the soft, wounded sound that crawled out of his mouth as he curled forward, pressing his forehead to Sephiroth’s chest. Sephiroth gathered him close as best he could with their position before rolling them so he was flat on his back and Cloud was curled up on his chest. Cloud’s legs fell to frame his hips and his fingers gripped tight at his shoulders, his nose pressed to the dip between his collar bones. He seemed to be struggling to breathe. Sephiroth repeated the motions he had done the night before, running a hand up and down his back until he quieted. 

“I wish I didn’t remember,” Cloud mumbled before he sat up suddenly, seemingly unaware of the way their hips were precariously close together. “Gaia, Sephiroth, I’m—I’m so sorry. Shit, I’m  _ so _ sorry. How are you not pissed?”

Sephiroth blinked slowly. 

“Why would I be aggravated?”

“Because I—I took advantage of you. You were there, and I needed the comfort, but my heart—what’s left of it—is still wrapped up in Zack, and—I shouldn’t have. A night of not hurting isn’t worth losing you. Can you ever forgive me?”

Oh. 

Well. 

That  _ would _ work nicely, wouldn’t it?

Sephiroth would normally be loathe to let Cloud remain guilt-riddled over something that was Sephiroth’s own fault, but it  _ was _ a neat solution to it all. 

Sephiroth reached up, fitting his hand to the curve of Cloud’s cheek, his thumb sliding over the freckles. 

“There’s nothing to forgive. If you’ll remember, I wasn’t protesting.”

“ _ Still _ . I used you; you  _ should _ be protesting,” he said, despite the way he was leaning into the gesture like a touch-starved cat. 

“I have little interest in ‘should’s. I do not feel used, and you should not feel manipulative. I would be happy to consent again, and again, and again; as many times as you need to hear it.”

Cloud looked down at him in disbelief. 

“You mean you weren’t—I don’t know, humoring me?”

“Do I seem someone inclined to do such a thing?”

Cloud carefully bit his lip, his eyes roaming Sephiroth’s face. After a long moment, he gave his head a little shake. 

“Then,” Sephiroth said, “I fail to see the issue. Two consenting adults had a night of pleasure. Anything else can be negotiated later.”

Cloud watched him closely. He didn’t remember much from last night; after that first kiss, it was largely a blur. He knew he enjoyed himself, and that Sephiroth had said he loved him. He wasn’t sure how he felt about the other man; his heart still in too many pieces to make sense of it all. It wouldn’t be fair to ask Sephiroth for anything more, no matter how willing he might be. 

“I’m still not…”

“Cloud, I’m going to tell you something I say very rarely: think less.” As Cloud blinked at him in surprise, he continued, “You are hurting terribly, that is clear. I am happy to offer what comfort I can. How you feel, when you are settled enough to accurately judge such things, is not a problem for the moment. Stop worrying.”

“But I—it’s not fair. To you.”

“Shouldn’t that be my concern?” When Cloud scowled and opened his mouth to protest, he tried, “Let me rephrase. If things were different, with Zack in your position and you in mine, what would you do?”

Cloud felt his heart sink. He knew the answer. 

“Absolutely anything, if it might help,” Cloud whispered, something almost guilty in his tone. 

Sephiroth nodded and finally let his hand drop to Cloud’s hip. 

“Then I think you can understand why I’m willing to deal with the finer details later. Anything you need, Cloud. Absolutely anything that might help.”

Cloud bit his lip, a little less carefully this time. He chewed absently at it as he thought, until he tasted blood. That was when Sephiroth reached up and pressed his thumb, light but insistent, to Cloud’s bottom lip, until it parted. Sephiroth slid his thumb along, feeling the petal-softness of Cloud’s lip, smearing the traces of blood there. At least until Cloud pulled the digit into his mouth, tongue playing lightly at the edges of skin. 

Cloud still had his hesitations, but they were soothed away easily, as everything dissolved into heat again. 

Cloud was soothed easily; Zack, less so. 

Regardless of what people would say, Zack understood tact; he just usually found it not worth the effort. So, no, he didn’t check in with Cloud. He understood, full well, that Cloud wouldn’t want to hear from him right now, much less see him. So he minded his business. He went to see Aeris, and while he was with her, at least, he didn’t worry about Cloud.

When he was in the Tower, however, it was a different story. Traces of Cloud were everywhere; the spots they used to hang out, different people he’d tried and failed to introduce Cloud to, Cloud’s most and least favorite cafeteria dishes. He couldn’t stop thinking about how his friend was doing, how badly he was hurting. He ached to help, but anything he tried was bound to make it worse. 

So he did the only thing he could. 

He talked to Sephiroth. 

Sephiroth confirmed that he was doing everything he was able to do to comfort Cloud. It would be slow going, but he would be alright, eventually. Zack had to be patient with him. 

Sephiroth was drawing out the inevitable. Zack was going to find out sooner or later, and when he did, there would be hell to pay. He was certain the SOLDIER wouldn’t share Cloud’s perspective of who had been taken advantage of—and he would be right. Still, the more time he could buy, the better. If Cloud was comfortable with him,  _ happy,  _ by the time he found out, it would go a long way in silencing any protests. 

They weren’t quite there, but it was a near thing, by the time Zack found out. 

“What about that little blond trooper? The one that’s been with the General all the time lately?”

“You mean Zack’s friend? What about him?”

What about him, indeed, Zack wondered, from where he was eavesdropping in his office with the door open, still slogging through that backlog of paperwork. 

“Well, he’s been a little bruised up lately, yeah? And I mean in the pretty way, not the combat way.”

“The hell are you talking about?”

“I’m saying, his scarf slips sometimes and it shows some pretty interesting shit, when you consider the only SOLDIER anyone’s seen him around lately is Sephiroth. You think he and Zack broke up?”

“They were never together, you idiot. But he and the General  _ might _ be. Huh. I’ll have to pay more attention to him. Exactly  _ how _ bruised are we talking?”

That was the point where Zack’s pen snapped in his fingers. 

The men shut up, but it didn’t much matter, because at this point, the blood was rushing in Zack’s ears. He was seeing  _ so _ much red. 

That bastard. 

That absolute mother _ fucker _ .

He’d  _ trusted _ him with Cloud! When his friend was at his lowest, his most vulnerable, when he truly needed a friend and it just couldn’t be Zack. He’d always known Sephiroth could be an opportunistic prick with little moral compunctions when it came to reaching his goal. He’d seen it over and over and over again, but he didn’t think he’d do it  _ here _ . He thought he  _ cared _ about Cloud. 

Maybe that was the issue; he cared too  _ much. _

Now that he thought about it, if Sephiroth had taken a shine to someone Zack could imagine that there would be very little he wouldn’t do to have them. 

That didn’t stop Zack from all but running from his office to Sephiroth’s. 

He’d never knocked on Sephiroth’s door; not his office, and not his apartment. He considered it friend-privilege and Sephiroth might sigh a lot about it, but Zack knew if it actually bothered him, he’d say something. 

When he flung the door open, he didn’t see what he expected to. 

He thought he’d see Sephiroth sitting behind his desk, and technically, he wasn’t wrong. It was just that Cloud was there with him, straddling his lap, joined in the most intimate way. The trooper’s head was tossed back, a pretty moan filling the room (and the hallway, as the door opened) as he rode him, hard. His cheeks were stained pink and there  _ were _ purple blooms scattered across his throat, visible where the uniform scarf had been yanked askew. 

It was a sight he wouldn’t be getting out of his head for a while. 

Sephiroth looked at him, ready to kill, until he saw who had entered the room. His face, strangely enough, softened. Not in guilt, but into something Zack couldn’t quite place. 

He put a hand on Cloud’s hip, stopping him; he hadn’t noticed the door, or who was in it. 

He looked up at Sephiroth, bewildered, who jerked his head at the door. When Cloud met Zack’s eyes, those blue ones grew wider than he’d ever seen them. All the color fled his face. 

“Oh, fuck,” Cloud whispered. 

“ _ Apparently _ ,” Zack said. He gave them one last look, took a deep breath, and said, “Knock when you’re decent. We’re talking after.”

Then he stepped from the room, pressing his back to the door. He folded his arms over his chest and glared down the few people that risked looking over at what they had heard, quickly looking away after meeting his stare. He then sighed and let his head fall back against the door, his eyes shutting. He couldn’t help but overhear the conversation occurring in the office with his enhanced hearing. 

“Shit.  _ Shit _ . What do we do? Do you think he’ll let me talk to him one on one? He ought to hear it from me. What little is left to hear, anyway.  _ Fuck. _ ”

And that, Zack didn’t understand. Because he couldn’t imagine what else there was to hear, and why it was  _ Cloud _ who felt he owed him some sort of truth. 

“There will be no need,” Sephiroth said with a sigh, over the sound of rustling clothes. “I suspect he came intending to talk to me.”

“Well, yeah, it’s your office.”

“No, I mean about us. He didn’t seem surprised, not enough, and that means he already knew.”

“But why would he be coming to you about this?”

“Because, Cloud, I doubt he holds you responsible.”

“But I did this.”

“I know your opinion on the matter, but we ought to speak to him properly, instead of letting him eavesdrop through the door. He’s heard enough out of context as it is.”

“Godsdammit, you don’t think…?”

Zack rapped his knuckles against the door pointedly. 

There was another muffled curse from Cloud, before Sephiroth said, “Come in, Zack.”

When he entered, poking a head in cautiously this time, it was to see them both decent, Sephiroth still seated, and Cloud standing nervously at his side. 

“Before anyone says anything, I need to say that I don’t like the idea of Cloud being here for this. I’ll say what I have to regardless, but it’s not something he needs to hear,” Zack said slowly, coming to sit in the chair opposite Sephiroth’s, the desk between them. 

Cloud was frowning at him as he said, “But I have something to say to you. If you need me to, I’ll leave after. Just let me, okay?”

And Zack had taken too much from him not to allow that much. 

So he sighed and leaned back in his chair, gesturing for Cloud to go ahead. 

“It was my idea. I turned to him in the… aftermath, and he was too kind and cared too much to tell me no. We’ve been figuring things out since, but I came to him. Took advantage of his feelings, honestly. I’m still not proud of that, but he’s forgiven me.” At this, Cloud offered Sephiroth a small smile, which was returned quietly. 

He opened his mouth to continue, but Zack held up a hand. His eyes were mako-bright, glowing like stars in a dangerous show of temper, the way a SOLDIER’s did only when they bordered on losing control. 

His voice was tightly restrained when he said, 

“Cloud, I really think you should go.”

Cloud frowned and hesitated, but he knew better than to push a SOLDIER with eyes shining like that. Everyone in Shinra did. 

But he had to try. 

“Zack, I don’t know if—“

“Please.”

Cloud, still looking unsure, looked to Sephiroth, who met his gaze and nodded quietly. Cloud looked unhappy, not liking being dismissed from a conversation about him, but he couldn’t come between a mako-flaring First and  _ Sephiroth.  _ He liked his skin in tact, thank you. 

When he disappeared through the door, Sephiroth started, “Zack—“

Who cut him off to say, “I ought to skin you alive for what you’ve done.”

The glow in his eyes said it wasn’t an idle threat. 

“He needed someone, Zack, and it wasn’t going to be you.”

“Anyone else, and I would have believed that maybe it was Cloud’s idea. But not you. How long were you planning this? How long were you waiting for when he’d be weak to swoop in?”

“I never expected you to fall in love with someone else as you did.”

“No, but we both expected him to give up eventually. There was always going to be the heartbreak. And you always intended to be who he turned to for comfort.”

“Yes.”

Zack’s eyes flared again; he hadn’t thought he’d  _ admit  _ to it. He should have—Sephiroth was known to be unapologetic, and always had been truthful with Zack. 

“ _ You _ —“

“What do you intend to do about it, Zack? Take him from the only one offering him comfort? Because we both know you can’t give him what I do, or you would have done it by now. Do you plan on breaking his heart all over again?”

“You’re letting him blame himself! He ought to at least know this was  _ your _ idea!”

“To what end?”

“So he stops feeling guilty over something he didn’t do!”

“He no longer feels guilt. You will only make him doubt what comforts him.”

“Maybe he should doubt it.”

“Zack, believe what you will, but what I feel for him is genuine. I took advantage of a moment, yes, but never of him.”

Zack clearly did not believe him. 

“You still don’t tell him the truth, and you betrayed his trust, and you  _ keep _ betraying his trust.”

“How? I love him, Zack. All I am doing is staying by his side while he will have me.”

“But you’re there under false pretenses.”

“I’m not. I reached out to him, and he reached back. Perhaps he would not have in a different moment, but now that moment is past, and he continues to reach for me. Will you take that connection from him because of how it was made?”

Zack’s eyes were still dangerously bright, but they were starting to fade. What he was saying made sense, in its way. That was the danger of talking to Sephiroth when you were mad at him: he was too damn smart. He was unapologetic, but he never did anything without a reason. If he had a reason, and you gave him a chance to pitch it to you properly, it tended to be hard to argue. 

Zack chewed his cheek as he glared. After a long, long moment, Sephiroth raised an eyebrow. 

Zack leaned forward, pointing in Sephiroth’s face. 

“I’m going to be there from now on, unless he’s  _ very  _ insistent I fuck off. I’m going to keep an eye on you. If I get even the smallest idea that you’re bad for him, that you’re still taking advantage of him, that you have an ulterior motive, I’m telling him. I’m gonna do everything I can to make sure he knows it’s a bad idea, if I really think it is. So you better be being honest right now, about your intentions.”

“I am. I have no fear of your threats.”

That set Zack’s eyes blazing again. He shot out of his chair and out the door, slamming it behind him. His teeth were grinding so hard they threatened to break. He took a few angry steps forward, only to look over and see Cloud, who was standing next to the door, watching him silently. There was still a hint of heartbreak in his eyes, but it was much dimmer than Zack expected. They regarded each other silently, until Cloud took him by the shoulder and started steering him off. They didn’t say anything until Cloud led them into one of the empty training rooms. When they were inside, Cloud folded his arms over his chest as he stared Zack down. 

“You shouldn’t shout when you’re talking about something you’re trying to keep secret.”

Zack’s face fell, as he realized Cloud had been eavesdropping, unenhanced hearing be damned. 

Before he could protest, Cloud held his hand up, and said, “I didn’t hear everything, but I heard enough.”

“Cloud, I…”

“I knew, Zack. I’m not an idiot.”

“... What?”

Cloud sighed, looking tiredly at Zack. 

“I didn’t know that first night, but it didn’t take me long to put together. He’s sneaky, but not exactly subtle, y’know? He took advantage, yes. But so did I. We took advantage of each other. We’re  _ still _ taking advantage of each other. What we have is co-dependent, and probably unhealthy, and maybe not very good for either of us, but it works. We’re happy. We’re better together than we are apart. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I appreciate the thought, and the gesture, and that you have my back still, but it’s unnecessary. I’m good. You don’t have to worry.”

Zack stared, dumbfounded, at Cloud, who just smiled at him, surprisingly steadily. Zack continued staring speechlessly. Cloud set a hand on his shoulder, squeezed once, and then brushed passed him. Zack watched him go, still feeling around for what to say. His anger slipped through his fingers. It was hard to stay mad on Cloud’s behalf, when Cloud himself not only knew, but wasn’t upset about it. Not only wasn’t upset, but apparently encouraging. It left Zack with a headache. 

He didn’t go apologize to Sephiroth because, regardless of Cloud’s stance, the general still shouldn’t have done what he had. Even if it worked out for the best, he shouldn’t have done it. But he wasn’t going to protest any further. Cloud had final say in his own affairs. 

That didn’t mean he wasn’t going to keep an eye on them though. 

Sephiroth, very clearly, didn’t appreciate the supervision. He never liked people hovering over his business, whether it was war or romance. He didn’t think that Zack had the right; he was the one who broke Cloud’s heart in the first place. But when his frustrations showed in his narrowed eyes and tight jaw, Cloud touched him gently, and Sephiroth unwound. Cloud reminded him softly that Zack was a friend to  _ both  _ of them, and things would settle, if given some time. Zack would see sense, eventually. He had to be patient, that’s all. 

Cloud took it upon himself to smooth Zack and Sephiroth’s edges. They were butting heads over  _ him _ , after all, and he felt that made it his responsibility. But it was far from a position he wanted to be in. It still hurt, to be around Zack at all, much less when he was acting so protective over him. It made his maimed heart limp along a little worse, to see Zack care so blatantly for him. It was easier when he was keeping his distance, but Cloud didn’t quite have it in him to turn him away. 

If Sephiroth noticed any hints of continued pining, he didn’t remark on them. He  _ did _ , however, hold Cloud closer, jealously. He touched him more often and more obviously, left lovebites that were harder to hide, tried to make Cloud scream when they were indiscreet in his office. He was staking his territory against a threat that was more perceived than actual. 

Cloud, as usual, wasn’t unaware of what he was doing, though he was conflicted about it. On the one hand, it was unnecessary, and the look in Zack’s eyes said he also knew what was happening, and didn’t like it. On the other, Cloud  _ liked _ that Sephiroth was possessive over him. He wasn’t close to many people, and having someone care enough to be jealous over him warmed something cold deep inside him. He didn’t need a guard dog, but he liked that Sephiroth was acting as one anyway. 

More than anything, this put him in a harder spot. Because he didn’t like Sephiroth and Zack at odds. He didn’t like the barely constrained snarls, the snide remarks, the biting looks. He didn’t like the way the air went hot or cold around them at times, or how they always seemed a breath away from storming apart. He didn’t like how he was costing them their friendship with each other. 

But he  _ did _ like being fought over. Zack had his misguided attempts at keeping him safe, and Sephiroth had his misguided jealousy. Both were being protective in response to imagined threats. It was entirely unnecessary. But it made his heart flutter and twist to know that it was  _ him _ they were fighting over. That they cared so deeply about him to put their own friendship on the line. Sometimes, it even felt like they were only tolerating each other for Cloud’s benefit, and that was even  _ better _ . 

Cloud loved it, and was deeply ashamed of that fact. 

His mother had taught him better. He understood humility, and selflessness, and always, always tried to put others before himself. But he  _ was _ trying to make them get along. Maybe he just wasn’t trying his hardest because he enjoyed being fought over. The issue was, in his gut, he was aware of that fact, no matter how much he tried to draw the wool over his eyes. 

Eventually, the guilt won. 

“Okay, listen, that’s it.”

“What is?” Zack’s eyes honed in, almost excited. Cloud guessed he was expecting him to call it quits with Sephiroth; he didn’t know another interpretation that would make him light up that way. 

“You two have to stop.”

“Stop what?” Zack asked, more hesitant this time. 

“Fighting over me. Don’t get me wrong, it’s  _ really _ flattering, but you have to knock it off.”

Sephiroth was watching with sharp eyes, sharp enough that Cloud’s cut to Zack instead. 

Zack, who looked sheepish, and a little guilty himself. 

“I’m not  _ trying  _ to. Just… watching your back.”

“There’s nothing to watch it  _ from _ . I trust Sephiroth. I know what you think, but he’s never betrayed that trust, and I don’t expect him to. He’s never done anything I haven’t encouraged—premeditated, or otherwise.”

“Premeditated?” Sephiroth asked. 

“Yes, I know all about your big bad wicked scheme to get me in your bed, and it doesn’t bother me. Which is why Zack is being as ridiculous as you are.”

Sephiroth was too busy blinking in surprise at the first half of that remark to reply to the second, so Zack interrupted. 

“I know you forgive him, Spike, but you’re being a little too trusting, y’know?”

“No, you’re being too suspicious. You need to trust me—that I know what I’m getting into and how to handle it.”

“I  _ do _ trust you, just—“

“Just not my judgement?”

Zack fell silent. 

“I know Sephiroth is older, and scarier, and more battle-hardened. He’s unapologetic, and unscrupulous, and takes what he wants, consequences be damned. I know that part of what Sephiroth wants is  _ me _ , and I understand how those two facts interact. I’ve said it before, that what we have is probably unhealthy. But I  _ like _ it. It makes me happy—he,  _ us  _ makes me happy. I want this, and if you tried to stand in the way of it, you’d be fighting me too. So give it up, before we start butting heads too, and you have to give  _ me _ up too, alright?”

Zack pursed his lips. He clearly wanted to argue. He thought Cloud was making a mistake. He thought this was going to end poorly, and with more heartbreak than Zack had ever given him. But it was Cloud’s mistake to make, if he was set on it. He’d rather be there for him, when the inevitable heartache came, than lose him now, and leave him alone for the future pain. 

He nodded brusquely. 

Cloud nodded back, and turned to Sephiroth. Who raised a quiet eyebrow at him. 

“And  _ you _ . You have to trust me too, okay?”

“You know that I do, Cloud.”

“You don’t. We both know you think Zack can sway me, if he tries hard enough. That if he bats his eyelashes and says ‘please’ all sweet, I’ll cave to the old crush and do whatever he wants. In fact, I’m pretty sure you think that if he just asked, I’d dump you to date him. Isn’t that right?”

“It might not be… inaccurate.”

“Uh-huh. I’m not going to. Zack took my heart and smashed it on the floor,” Zack winced physically at this remark, which Cloud ignored, “and you of all people know that. You were there in the aftermath of what he caused, you saw how bad I was. I don’t blame him for it; I never did, since he didn’t do anything wrong, and it wasn’t like he could have controlled it if he wanted to. But I can’t run back to what broke me. I won’t. I can stay friends with him, and yeah, I still feel something sometimes. But he could beg me and I’d tell him no. You need to trust that, and trust me, and that I’m not going to leave you behind the second he tries something. Got it?”

“I…”

“Sephiroth, you’re not an army, and I’m not territory for to stick a flag in. I’m yours. We all know it. We get it. Stop trying to stake a claim on something you clearly already own.”

“You aren’t an item; I don’t own you.”

“No, because if I was just some doll you could own, you wouldn’t be so nervous that I’d run off. But my point stands. I’m not going to leave you, no matter what Zack says. Have a little faith.”

Sephiroth didn’t look any happier than Zack had, but he nodded slowly. 

“Good, now shake on your ceasefire.” When they both looked at him oddly, he gestured them together, saying, “C’mon, I want a full truce. I’m tired of being the rope in your game of tug-of-war. You’re both men of your word, and if you shake on it, you’ll actually stick to it, but I don’t trust you not to go back to the same old bullshit if you don’t. Come on.”

They looked at each other like they had never seen one another before, like they weren’t the oldest of friends. Slowly, hesitantly, Zack stuck his hand out, but he looked at Sephiroth like he was daring him to turn away. In the end, it was likely exactly that which got Sephiroth to take his hand and shake it firmly, his grip too tight. He always had hated walking away from a challenge. 

“Good,” Cloud said, standing abruptly. “Now, I’m gonna go sit outside the door on my PHS. You two are gonna sit here and make up. I don’t want anyone leaving until you make some progress on being friends again. And before anyone insists that won’t happen, remember that we all know I’ll blame myself if you stop being friends over me. So, since neither of you like it when I feel like shit, you’re going to make up. I’m gonna stick my ear to the door every now and then, and I expect to hear progress.”

Cloud touched Sephiroth’s cheek to tilt his face and pressed a soft kiss to his lips. He touched Zack’s shoulder on his way out, and then was gone. 

Zack was quietly proud of Cloud for standing up to them. Sephiroth was even more quietly proud of Cloud for using their care for him to get his way. 

When the door closed behind him, the two turned to look at each other, and found they had nothing to say. They each quietly resolved to sit in silence until Cloud decided they could leave. 

Until he poked his head back in to say, “I’m serious. Start talking. I’ll keep you both here all night if I have to.”

Then he ducked back out again. Zack and Sephiroth both looked a little too fond to be frustrated, but that evaporated as they looked at one another. 

“Will you be able to move forward, knowing I’m not sorry?” Sephiroth eventually ventured to ask. 

Zack paused, a flicker of anger building in his chest, before he sighed and ruffled his hair. 

“I’m going to have to, huh? Cloud made it pretty clear that he doesn’t need you to feel sorry. I still think this whole thing is a mistake, and that it’s going to end bad, but there’s nothing I can do about it without losing him. You too, I guess.”

Sephiroth looked faintly amused at that last addition. 

“Do you honestly imagine we’ll be able to rebuild what we had?”

“I think we better give it a damn good shot, because if we don’t, it’s going to wreck Cloud. He knows how much we meant to each other, and if we lose that forever, he’s going to feel guiltier than hell.”

Sephiroth paused, then frowned. 

“It won’t be easy. Rebuilding.”

“No, because you’re a stubborn ass, and I can be too every now and then. But if we don’t at least try, I think we’ll both regret it.”

A sigh, and then, “How was your last mission, then? I saw the report, it seemed… interesting, to say the least.”

Cloud leaned away from where he had his ear pressed to the door and turned to his PHS, opening one of the games on it, determined to get through this next level that had been giving him hell. He’d probably manage before they  _ really  _ needed to be checked on again. As he booted up the game, he found himself relaxing against the door, feeling more boneless than he had in weeks. 

It finally looked like things would be alright. 


End file.
